


Legacies

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: Captain America (Movies), Dracula & Related Fandoms, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: AU, Banshees, Crack, Gen, Howling Commandos - Freeform, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Tags to be added as necessary, Vampires, count buckula, that is the most ridiculous tag, timeline goes AU after Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-24 23:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4938154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So why’d Zola’s serum work on you, anyway?”</p><p>“Because I’m part-vampire,” Bucky said with a straight face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darth_stitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darth_stitch/gifts).
  * Inspired by [he's got a heart made out of stone](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1593179) by [darth_stitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darth_stitch/pseuds/darth_stitch). 



> This was inspired by darth_stitch's wonderful stories where Bucky is related to Dracula. I hope they don't mind my borrowing the idea and playing with it. You can find their stories by clicking on the 'count buckula' tag.

**Chapter One**

Back during the war, the Howling Commandoes once got into a discussion about their family origins.

Steve had talked readily enough of his Ma and the father he’d never gotten a chance to meet, and of his Irish heritage, but Bucky sat silently, watching the others with an inscrutable look on his face.

The rest of the Commandos shared their stories happily enough, until it was only Bucky who hadn’t spoken up, and the others were sending him expectant glances.

“What about you, Barnes?” Dum Dum asked loudly, and everyone looked at where Bucky sat, lounging in the shadows.

Only Steve saw the flicker of a smile that crossed his face.

“You’ve got to understand,” said Bucky, after a moment, “my family’s Romanian.”

Steve looked at him in surprise – he hadn’t expected Bucky to tell _that_ story. But Bucky was glancing at the others, his expression as solemn as a judge.

“Romanian?” Gabe Jones repeated incredulously.

Bucky gave a shrug.

“Yeah – well, on my Pa’s side, anyway. He used to tell me stories of the old country when I was a kid. He used to get these moods. Homesickness, I think. Missed the country and the people – and the castles, of course.”

“Castles?” Dernier asked dubiously.

“Sure,” said Bucky. “Plenty of castles in Romania. That’s where the vampires live, see.”

There were immediate protests from the others, that Bucky was pulling their leg, and did he expect them to swallow stupid stories like that one?

“God’s truth,” Bucky said, his face still hidden by shadows.

“Really,” said Steve, backing Bucky up. “His Pa used to tell us stories.”

“Of vampires?” Falsworth’s tone made his opinion clear. “Fairytales.”

“Yeah, about vampires,” said Bucky seriously, despite the general air of amused disbelief. “Thing was, my Pa left Romania for a fresh start. Gave them a false name when he entered the country: Adrian Barnes. It wasn’t like anyone else was around to know the truth.”

The others were listening with interest now. They seemed amused, only half-believing the story coming out of Bucky’s mouth, but it was entertaining enough and it wasn’t like they had anything else to do but listen.

Steve just watched his best friend carefully.

“This is getting interesting,” said Morita. “So who was he then, your Pa?”

“Was he on the run, or something?” Dum Dum asked.

Bucky started to shake his head, then stopped.

“Well, kinda,” he admitted. “He wasn’t wanted for anything, though. Nah, he was running from family obligations.”

“Come on, Barnes, you’re not about to tell us you’re the long-lost prince of Romania, are you?” Morita asked. The others laughed.

“Not exactly,” said Bucky, and there was a white flash of teeth in the shadows, which to anyone but Steve probably looked like a smile. “Pa never wanted to tell me, but he thought I ought to be prepared, just in case anyone ever came looking. Turned out my Pa’s old man was none other than Dracula himself.”

There were hoots of laughter and derision from the other Commandos. Dernier said something in French that was clearly disparaging. Bucky waited until they settled down again.

“Go on,” said Dum Dum, grinning. “So your granddaddy’s Dracula.”

“Pa was half-human,” Bucky said, “half-vampire. He could walk in the sun and didn’t need to drink anyone’s blood, but he was faster and stronger than the average guy. Then, when I was twelve, he vanished.”

Steve nodded soberly when the others looked to him for confirmation.

“Disappeared in the dead of night,” he agreed.

“There were stories, after that, of people going missing,” said Bucky, “late at night, when no one else was around. We figured someone in the family had found him, and brought him back into the fold.” He shrugged, the movement just visible. “A few years later, the disappearances just – stopped. And neither me nor Steve ever saw my Pa again.”

There was a short silence. Falsworth broke it.

“Well, entertaining though this tale has been,” he drawled, “I hope you don’t expect me to _believe_ it, Barnes.”

“It’s not up to me what you believe, pal,” said Bucky.

“You’re making it up, right?” Dum Dum prompted. Bucky was silent for a moment.

“Yeah, alright,” he said. “It was all a lie. You got me.”

The others congratulated him on his tall tale, and the conversation moved on. But later, when the others were back in their tents, Steve asked, “Something you want to tell me, Buck?”

Bucky was quiet for so long that Steve thought he wasn’t going to answer at all. Then:

“I’m awful thirsty these days, Steve.”

And his teeth flashed in the moonlight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

“So why’d Zola’s serum work on you, anyway?”

Steve glanced up at the question, aware that Bucky did the same. Steve glanced at his friend in concern, but Stark was still talking.

“I mean,” said Stark, “I know from the HYDRA files Natasha recovered that Zola tried his serum on other test subjects, but it didn’t work on any of them. So why did it work on you, Barnes?”

Steve and Bucky exchanged glances.

“Because I’m part-vampire,” Bucky said with a straight face.

“Ha ha, very funny,” said Stark impatiently. “No, really, what makes you so special?”

If Natasha were here, she would have been warning Stark off the subject, because Bucky had gone still and introspective – but she wasn’t here, only Steve was, and he wasn’t sure he should intervene.

Bucky gave Stark a long look.

“What?” asked Stark. Then –

– a flash of movement, too fast for any ordinary human to track, and then Stark was being pressed back into the couch, and Bucky’s mouth was open in a snarl, revealing sharp, pointed teeth –

Stark made a sound that could only be described as _eep_. Steve, in spite of himself, let out a snort of laughter.

Bucky closed his mouth and eased away from Stark, returning to his seat beside Steve on the other couch.

Stark stared at them, looking shaken and pale.

“Okay, I think you just scared ten years off my life,” he said after a moment. “So, what you’re telling me is that the serum worked because you’re not completely human.”

Bucky looked at Steve. Steve shrugged back, because of course that was what Stark would take away from the experience. Even scared, his brain didn’t stop working.

“Yeah,” said Bucky shortly.

Stark frowned at Steve. Steve raised an eyebrow.

“You want to ask me something, Stark?”

“If the serum worked on him because he’s not completely human...” said Stark slowly, and let the words hang in the air. Steve waited.

“Something you’re not telling the world, Captain?” Stark’s gaze was intense.

“Hey, leave him alone,” Bucky started, but Steve said, “It’s okay, Bucky. You can’t tell him that much and expect him not to work out the rest.”

He turned back to Stark.

“The answer to the question you’re wondering about is that my Ma was a _bean sidhe_ ,” Steve said matter-of-factly.

Stark stared.

“A banshee.”

“ _Bean sidhe_ ,” Steve corrected, and gave up when Stark only looked uncomprehending. “Yes.”

“So you’re...?” Stark gestured at him. Steve shrugged.

“ _Bean sidhe_ are always women in the stories, but between you and me, every now and again you get a guy who inherits the ability.”

“By which you mean the ‘scream when someone dies’ thing,” Stark clarified.

“Yeah.”

“You ever do it?” Stark looked at Steve curiously, unaware of what he was asking. Steve swallowed against a suddenly-dry throat. But Bucky was sitting next to him, alive and more or less himself, so Steve tried to push the terrible memory away and said with finality, “Once.”

“The way Steve’s Ma used to tell it, you really have to care about the person you’re mourning,” said Bucky. “And then it’s sort of instinctive.” He nudged Steve with a metal elbow. “Heard you screaming the entire way down after I fell off that train, you know.”

Stark’s eyes widened in visible understanding at Bucky’s words. He looked momentarily uncomfortable, but shook it off to ask, “But he wasn’t really dead, so why...?”

“I thought he was,” said Steve thickly. “I thought – there’s no way anyone could survive that. So I screamed.”

He deliberately turned his thoughts to other topics. Bucky sensed Steve’s discomfort, like he always did, and leaned forward, fixing his eyes unblinkingly on Stark.

“So now you know,” he said, “What are you planning on doing about the situation?”

Stark was silent for a long moment.

“Nothing,” he said at last. “There’s been enough people lost to attempts to replicate the super-soldier serum. Besides which, I’m pretty sure it’s a bad idea for anyone to know you’re not entirely human.”

“Thanks,” said Steve quietly. Stark waved his thanks away.

“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Tell me, did my Dad know about you guys?”

“Like I’d trust Howard Stark as far as I could throw him,” said Bucky, and Stark burst into surprised laughter.

Steve rolled his eyes.

“Howard was a friend, I guess, but I didn’t know him that well. There wasn’t a chance I was going to trust him with that kind of secret,” he said.

‘Well,” said Stark, and he was smiling, although the expression looked brittle. “That about makes my day, Captain. Sergeant.”

He nodded to both of them, and then got up and wandered away without another word.

“Is it a genius thing, you reckon?” Bucky wondered aloud, because Howard had been like that too.

“Pretty sure it’s a Stark thing,” Steve replied, with a shrug.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _So, the chapters aren't necessarily in chronological order. Also, I'll be drawing not just on the Dracula book, but multiple media._

** Chapter Three **

When they finally caught up to Bucky and brought him in, it went something like this:

Steve and Sam walked into a warehouse, and Steve, out of long knowledge of his best friend, was already looking up.

“Steve, I don’t think your boy’s here,” said Sam, looking around the apparently empty warehouse. “He must have gotten out another way.”

“Uh-huh,” said Steve absently, because he was looking at the bats hanging from the ceiling.

The bats were watching him. All of them.

Steve stared upwards a moment longer, and then said, “Come on, Bucky, I know it’s you.”

“Steve?” Sam asked uncertainly. “There’s no one else here but us.”

“Bucky, get down here, I mean it,” said Steve, projecting firmness into his voice.

“Steve,” Sam was looking worried now, “Bucky isn’t –”

Steve thought of the moment his best friend had asked _who is Bucky?_ with eyes devoid of recognition, and threw his head back and _screamed_.

The scream reverberated through the warehouse. Sam dropped to the ground like he’d been punched, but the bats were shrieking and falling from the ceiling _en masse_ , forming a large, dark shape…

…which coalesced into a dark-haired man holding his hands over his ears. One of his hands was metal.

Steve stopped screaming. The sound slowly died away.

Steve and Bucky stared at each other. Bucky let his hands fall away from his ears.

Sam groaned loudly from where he was sprawled on the ground. He hadn’t yet looked up to see Bucky.

“What the hell, Steve?” Sam asked, beginning to pull himself up. “You want to warn a guy next–” 

He stopped dead as he noticed Bucky. 

“Steve… Your friend wasn’t there a minute ago.”

“I…” Bucky hesitated. “I was the bats.”

“The bats,” Sam repeated flatly, and looked at Steve.

Steve only shrugged.

“It’s a family gift,” he said vaguely.

“Right.” Sam looked equal parts suspicious and bewildered. “What about that scream, Rogers? Because I never heard anybody scream like that before.”

“Steve’s Ma was a _bean sidhe_ ,” Bucky explained, watching Sam carefully.

Steve and Sam looked at him.

“You remember that, huh?” Steve couldn’t help smiling a little.

“I remember some things,” said Bucky.

“Whoa, hold up,” Sam insisted. “A _banshee?_ ”

“ _Bean sidhe_ ,” said Steve, correcting the emphasis slightly. “And yeah.”

Sam stared at him, then at Bucky.

“So you’re a _bean sidhe_ , and Barnes here can turn into bats,” Sam said after a moment. “What even?”

Steve shrugged.

“Look, I know it’s a lot to put on a guy –”

Sam held up a hand. Steve fell silent, and waited.

“I can deal,” said Sam. “It’s weird, but then so are you. Just – _what the hell_ , man?”

“Sorry,” said Steve. But Sam looked like he was, indeed, ‘dealing,’ so Steve looked back at Bucky.

“Hey, Buck,” he said, “how do you feel about getting a pizza and talking some stuff over?”

Bucky licked his lips.

“I could eat,” he said.

And that was how Steve and Bucky were eventually reunited.

* * *

“So if you’re a _bean sidhe_ ,” said Sam, pausing in the middle of what was the best pizza in New York, “what does that make Batman over there?”

Steve glanced at Bucky, wondering if his friend wanted anyone to know, but Bucky was too busy inhaling pizza to answer. Steve wondered when the last time Bucky had eaten was.

“Earth to Steve,” Sam’s voice intruded, and Steve realised he’d been silent for too long. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I’m just curious.”

“Bucky?” Steve asked, wondering what Bucky thought.

Bucky glanced up at him, then at Sam.

“You trust this guy?” Bucky asked.

“With my life,” Steve said immediately. Bucky frowned a bit at that response, but nodded.

“My grandfather was Dracula,” he said simply, and went back to eating.

The look on Sam’s  face was priceless.

“He’s messing with me, right?”

“Nope,” said Steve. “100% true story, Sam.”

“His grandfather is _Dracula_.”

“Got it in one,” Steve agreed.

Sam sat there, shaking his head.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Dracula’s grandson. Shouldn’t he be allergic to sunlight and all that jazz?”

“Only part-vampire,” said Bucky, around a mouthful of pizza.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Buck, no one can understand you,” said Steve.

Bucky muttered something that sounded vaguely like “Shut your face, punk.”

“How do you get someone who’s only part-vampire?” Sam wondered aloud, then made a face as possibilities occurred to him. “Wait, no, I take that back, I don’t want to know.”

Steve chuckled.

“Pa never talked about his parents much,” said Bucky. “Except to warn me about the family history and what I could expect.”

“Huh,” said Sam, frowning at Bucky. “So do you have other powers?”

Bucky gave a mirthless smile.

“HYDRA's serum unlocked some latent abilities, I think. The strength, the speed, the healing factor – they’re all vampire traits.”

“And then there’s the bat thing,” said Sam. “Did that come with the serum, too?”

“Nah, Bucky learned how to do that when we were kids,” said Steve. “Scared the life out of me too, the first time he did it. Bucky’s Pa looked like he didn’t know whether to be proud or terrified when Bucky showed him.”

“Do you have any other powers?” Sam asked, and Bucky just shrugged, so Steve kept quiet.

Sam straightened suddenly, looking a little wide-eyed.

“Wait, if Dracula’s real – he doesn’t live around here, does he?”

There was a snort of amusement from Steve, and a sliver of a smile from Bucky.

“No one knows,” said Bucky. “But whatever happened to him, he left family behind in the old country.”

“Transylvania?” Sam hazarded a guess. Bucky frowned at him.

“Wallachia,” Bucky corrected. “Although it’s all Romania, these days. I’m guessing you read the book about him, if you’re saying Transylvania.”

“I read it in high school,” said Sam. “Is any of it real?” 

“Some things,” said Bucky. He took another bite of pizza. “A lot of it’s nonsense, though.”

“I felt a lot safer when I woke up this morning, when I didn’t know there were vampires and mythical creatures out there. Thanks, guys,” Sam said.

“You’re welcome, buddy,” said Steve.

“You know, before I met you, I never expected Captain America to have so much sass,” Sam commented. He looked at Bucky. “Was Steve always this much of a smartass?”

“Yeah,” said Bucky. “That I definitely remember.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _How the other Avengers found out._

** Chapter Four **

A few weeks after the conversation with Stark – Tony, Steve corrected himself mentally – Bucky officially became one of the Avengers. (Sam was not officially an Avenger; he said that Steve had gotten him into enough shit without Sam signing up for that sort of thing day-by-day, which was fair enough, although he agreed to be put on the back-up register, should they ever really need him). Bucky was finally ready to ‘ _keep your punk ass out of trouble, Rogers,’_ as he put it. Most of his important memories had returned by this point, and although he wasn’t exactly the guy Steve had known back in Brooklyn –  and would probably never be again – he was still Steve’s best pal.

The other Avengers had gotten used to Bucky showing up in the Tower whenever Steve did, and Bucky was on friendly terms with all of them. But fighting alongside someone in the field was something different altogether, and Steve knew it. For that reason he kept a careful eye on the team dynamics the first time Bucky was called out with them, making sure there were no problems.

Ironically, Bucky’s first Avengers mission was a HYDRA cell that had been kidnapping notable scientists.

The scientists were being kept somewhere deep inside  HYDRA’s makeshift base, according to their intel. Unfortunately, just getting past the front door was taking longer than Steve had hoped. The Hulk had rampaged forward, nothing and no one able to stop him, but the rest of the team was finding it a little difficult to make headway against the group of armed HYDRA agents that had taken up position in the second hallway from the front door.

There was a shout of “HULK SMASH!” somewhere in the distance, while Steve used his shield to deflect flying bullets.

“This is stupid,” said Bucky.

“Well if you’ve got a better idea on how to get past these guys, go ahead and share with the class,” Tony said over comms. 

“Iron Man, cover me,” said Bucky, and his outline started to waver.

“Bucky, no,” Steve started to say, but too late.

The next moment a cloud of bats was streaming down the hallway, high above everyone’s heads.

A couple of HYDRA agents tried to shoot the bats, but Tony fired his repulsors at them and forced them to take cover.

The bats flew down the hallway, and around the nearest corner, out of sight, presumably in search of the missing scientists.

“Please explain to me how Soldier just turned into a cloud of bats, Captain,” Natasha requested, her voice surprisingly calm. Well, maybe not so surprisingly, considering that it was Natasha. 

“Wait, what?” asked Clint over comms, from where he was stationed outside the building.

“Now’s not really the time,” Steve deflected, running forwards to hit a distracted HYDRA agent with his shield. The HYDRA agent crumpled to the floor, but then the rest of them were on Steve before he had a chance to move.

“I think this is exactly the time,” said Natasha, as she joined Steve in fighting the HYDRA agents in the hallway.

“Do you want me to fill her in?” Tony inquired gleefully.

“ _No_ ,” said Steve, just as Mjolnir shot past him to hit a HYDRA agent in the face. Letting Tony explain would only make things worse.

“You’re no fun, Cap,” said Tony, as he and Thor joined Steve and Natasha.

“What is this Black Widow says about the Soldier becoming a cloud of bats?” Thor asked curiously.

“I’ll explain later,” Steve promised, seeing the look on Natasha’s face. “But right now we have other priorities.”

“I’ve found the scientists,” Bucky said suddenly over comms, and gave directions. Steve and the others began heading in that direction, spreading out into an appropriate battle formation in case they met any more HYDRA agents. “Problem is, none of them trust me.”

“On our way,” said Steve. “Hawkeye, any more incoming?”

“Nope,” said Clint. “Plenty leaving out the back way, though. I’ve been using the tranq arrows.”

“Good job, Hawkeye,” said Steve. 

Tony began humming the Captain America theme song from Steve’s USO tour days. Steve heard Bucky give a rusty laugh.

“Knock it off,” said Steve, as they rounded a corner to find Bucky standing outside an open doorway.

“Sure thing, O Captain my Captain,” Tony said, moving past Bucky and into the room. Steve followed.

The scientists looked shaken but relieved at the sight of Iron Man and Captain America. One of them, a young man with a highly-strung look, even burst into tears as the team escorted the group out of the building. 

The police were waiting outside the building, Hawkeye standing nearby now that the mission was basically over. Steve hustled the scientists over to the police officers, and explained the situation to them. Liaising with the police was something he’d gotten used to doing, since SHIELD had fallen. Tony sometimes did it, but Steve was better at not ruffling anyone’s feathers.

Afterwards, when it was all over, the Avengers returned to the Tower for some much needed downtime.

“Explain, Steve,” Natasha said, as soon as everyone was settled.

“Explain what?” Bucky asked, from where he was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Steve.

“She wants to know about the bat transformation,” Steve explained succinctly.

“Bat transformation?” Bruce repeated, looking bewildered. No one enlightened him.

“Oh.” Bucky smirked a little. “That.”

Steve shoved him slightly.

“I’d really like to know what’s going on,” Clint said, a little plaintively.

“I could explain–” Tony began.

“ _No_ ,” Steve and Bucky chorused. Bucky sat forward.

“Alright, so you want to know why I can turn into a cloud of bats,” he said. “Right?”

“Indeed,” said Thor. “Do you possess magic, like my brother?”

“Yeah, but not exactly,” said Bucky. “I can’t do magic like Loki does. I just have certain – talents.”

“Which include turning into a cloud of bats,” Natasha said.

“Exactly.”

“What,” said Bruce, blinking slowly. Everyone ignored him.

“A most wondrous talent,” said Thor. “Is it possessed by others of your lineage?”

“Yeah,” said Bucky, deflating slightly. “It is.”

“What kind of messed-up family do you come from?” Clint wondered aloud.

Bucky glared a bit, and Clint tensed.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “But come on, you know what I mean. Why bats?”

“I am reminded of a film I watched with Lady Darcy,” Thor mused, “about a mighty warrior named Vlad Tepes who became a blood-drinking creature of the night. He called himself Dracula.”

“Wait, Dracula was a real person?” Clint asked. Tony sent him a _‘do you know nothing?’_ look.

“Sure was,” said Bucky, and flashed long, sharp fangs at the others.

Clint yelped and went scrambling backwards, while Bruce said, “ _Whoa_ ,” and Natasha went very still. Tony just laughed at the others.

“My friend, you appear to possess fangs,” Thor observed, leaning forward curiously. “Are you, perhaps, a vampire like Dracula?”

“Sort of,” said Bucky, looking pleased at the reaction he’d elicited from the others. “I’m only part-vampire.”

“It’s not generally known, but Dracula was his grandfather,” Steve added.

“ _Dracula is real?_ ” Clint looked horrified. “I’m buying myself a cross! And stakes!”

“There’s, uh, got to be a rational explanation for this,” said Bruce. 

Bucky dissolved into a cloud of bats.

“Then again, I could be wrong,” Bruce conceded, staring.

The bats all landed on Steve, clinging to his clothes and hair with tiny feet.

“Bucky, get off,” Steve complained. “Jerk.”

The bats took flight again, and coalesced back into Bucky. He was grinning. There was no sign of his fangs this time, and Steve knew that Bucky must have retracted them.

The others, barring Tony and Thor, looked to be in shock.

“Vampires are real,” said Natasha slowly, like she was absorbing the idea.

“Surprised?” Steve asked, and grinned at the glare she sent him.

“How do we fight them?” Natasha asked. Steve looked to Bucky.

“Vampires aren’t like they are in the films,” Bucky said. “They can walk in the sunlight, for one thing, although their powers are diminished in the daytime.”

“So long as they don’t sparkle,” said Clint, which made Tony snicker.

Steve and Bucky exchanged lost looks, before Bucky went on.

“They need permission before they can enter a dwelling, which is why they usually live in abandoned buildings,” he said. “Most of them have a dramatic streak, which I guess is part of the reason they love abandoned castles. They can’t cross running water except under certain circumstances, they’re repelled by holy symbols like the cross, and they ain’t got a reflection. The best way to kill one is to stake them through the heart and cut off their head. Doesn’t have to be a wooden stake, despite what the films tell you.”

“You ever met one, Buckaroo?” Tony asked.

Bucky shook his head.

“Not many vampires out there,” he replied. “And the ones that are mostly live in Europe, from what my Pa told me. Crossing the ocean used to be too difficult. Of course, now they’ve got planes,” he added. “A private jet could probably take a vampire overseas, easy.”

“Thanks for that reassuring thought,” Tony remarked. “So, you guys are all okay with Bucky being Dracula’s offspring, right? Not going to try and stake him in his sleep, or something? I’m looking at you, Natasha,” he added.

“I’m fine with it,” said Natasha. “Although this is weird even for you guys, Barnes.”

“You’re not going to drink my blood, are you?” Clint asked apprehensively.

“Nah,” said Bucky casually. “You’re safe from me, pal.”

“Then I’m okay with it, although I’m definitely getting a cross and some stakes,” Clint said.

“Buy a rosary,” Steve recommended.

“Thor? Bruce?” Tony looked at them. “You okay with Edward Cullen over there?”

“I suppose so,” said Bruce slowly. “I mean, he’s been part-vampire all this time, it’s not like anything’s changed, except our perceptions.”

“Bucky is a worthy warrior and a good man,” Thor declared.

Bucky grimaced.

“I’m not that good, Thor. Done a lot of bad things.”

“Don’t start that again,” Steve groaned. 

“I agree with Steve,” Thor told him. “You must not castigate yourself for what was done while you were a captive of HYDRA.”

Bucky looked unconvinced. Steve nudged him.

“The stuff you did during the war… all of us did that, Buck,” he said softly. “I’m not proud of it, but I’m not ashamed, either.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Bucky muttered, but he nudged Steve back, companionably.

“So,” Tony clapped his hands together, “who else feels a sudden need to watch Dracula movies?” 


	5. Chapter 5

** Chapter Five **

When Steve had gotten Bucky back, he’d insisted on offering his spare bedroom to his friend, and Bucky had warily accepted. Living with Bucky had been a little difficult, at first – Bucky had been like a ghost, drifting silently through the apartment half the time, and he’d had screaming nightmares that set the neighbours complaining. Steve went out and bought a couple of hatstands, and on the bad nights Bucky hung from them as a cloud of bats. Steve still wasn’t sure exactly how that worked; Bucky had tried to explain it to him a few times, how it felt when he was the bats, but Steve didn’t understand. But then, Bucky didn’t understand the feeling Steve got when someone was about to die, the way the urge to scream bubbled up inside him and caught in his throat, so that was okay. They didn’t need to understand to be good friends to one another.

Over time, living with Bucky had gotten easier as Bucky had slowly recovered from what HYDRA had done to him.

Still, there were some things about living with Bucky that drove Steve crazy. One of those things was _1989._

Steve had never even heard of Taylor Swift until Bucky brought the album home, to be played on the cheap CD player Bucky had wheedled Steve into buying. Bucky had never heard of Taylor Swift, either, but her CD had been in the bestsellers section of the record store, and he’d liked the faded photograph on the front. And then Bucky had actually _listened_ to the damn thing, and that was it.

Bucky _loved_ it.

“ _Because baby I could build a castle, out of all the bricks they threw at me,”_ Bucky mumbled absently along with the lyrics, from where he was sprawled on the couch, reading an Asimov book. Bucky had been delighted to discover that the golden age of science fiction had flourished while he’d been otherwise occupied, and the brand-new bookcase was already stacked with John Brunners, Isaac Asimovs, Robert Heinleins, Frank Herberts, and more. Steve had been frugal with the frankly terrifying amount of army back-pay he’d been given, but Bucky – Bucky spent Steve’s money gleefully, like he might not get another chance to buy the things he wanted. And Steve was far too fond of him, and too glad to have him back, to start an argument over it.

“If I hear another Taylor Swift song, I’m gong to scream,” Steve informed Bucky.

“You’ll scare the neighbours,” said Bucky, without looking up from his book. Steve let out a frustrated sound.

“Can’t we listen to something else for a while?” he asked Bucky forlornly.

“But I like _1989_ ,” said Bucky reasonably.

“Believe me,” Steve sighed, “I know that, pal.”

Bucky sent Steve a sidelong look. 

“I suppose I could play something else,” he conceded, and his face suddenly transformed into a sly grin. Steve was instantly wary.

“Bucky, what was that face for?” he asked.

“What face?” Bucky asked absently, getting up and going through his small-but-growing collection of CDs. He pulled one out of the stack with a triumphant noise, and walked over to the CD player. 

“That sly face,” Steve said, watching suspiciously as Bucky removed _1989_ and put a new CD in the player.

“You’re imagining things,” was Bucky’s reply.

Jaunty music of the kind Steve was more at-home with started up, and a voice said, “ _This is the strip polka._ ”

Steve turned his head slowly to look at Bucky, who was smirking.

“Remember this number, Steve?” he asked conversationally.

Steve sank into a chair as the performer began to sing, “ _There’s a burlesque theatre where the gang loves to go, to see Queenie the cutie of the burlesque show, and the thrill of the evening is when out Queenie skips, and the band plays the polka while she strips!_ ”

Bucky was laughing at the look on Steve’s face.

“I wouldn’t have thought this song would even be available for sale,” said Steve. “Considering the lyrics.”

“Aw, come on, Steve, it’s not any worse than any of that rap or hip-hop music, and you can buy that just fine,” said Bucky. “Might’ve been a bit racy in our day, but these days it’s pretty sedate, you’ve got to admit.”

Steve had a list of music and films he was working his way through, but so far ‘rap’ and ‘hip-hop’ hadn’t really featured. He wondered uneasily if the lyrics were really that bad.

“Remember when we were in that genteel little bar run by a little old lady and her husband, and you taught all the Commandos the lyrics?” Steve recalled, instead of arguing. “I thought the lady who ran the place was going to throw us out. Called us all godless wretches and said your Ma’d be ashamed to hear you singing a song like that.”

Bucky shook his head, a regretful smile on his face.

“Guess that memory’s still missing,” he said. “Sounds like a doozy, though.”

“Yeah,” said Steve, remembering the incident fondly. “I was usually the one getting us into trouble, but you had your moments, Buck.”

Bucky grinned, and the two of them sat down to listen to the rest of the album.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I will never get tired of the idea of Steve and Bucky knowing the Strip Polka.


End file.
